There’s nowhere to change the product key in Server 2012

Server 2012 will tell you right away that you need to head to the Action Center in order to Activate your Windows Key. The trouble with the Action Center is that it’s not going to show you how you can change your product key. Instead, you’ll only get the option to Activate. Here’s how to get to the place to change the Product Key before choosing to activate:

Hit your Windows Key > Type in “slui 3” (If you cut this short and go to simply “slui” you’re not going to see the option to change the product key) > Choose the only application you can run > You’ll see the field where you can enter the Product Key right away.

You can use the command prompt to accomplish this as well. Open an elevated command prompt and enter the following:

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slmgr.vbs/ipk<var>&lt;Your product key&gt;</var>

This will run the script necessary to change the PK to what it should be. After that, you’ll be able to hop back into the Action Center and make your changes accordingly.

Dan Lee

Dan B. Lee works at SyApps, LLC., a Managed Hosting Solutions Firm, as a Senior Network Engineer. Dan has a decade of IT experience and specializes in a number of different disciplines including Virtualization, Web Site Hosting and Design, Network Security, Data Center Architecture, Local and Remote Server Hosting, and Backup & DRS Solutions. Read More…